Bailey Ryan: Hinterland Trading Company

There is something comforting about coming into a store that’s family-owned and operated. Hoping to make people feel at home and that they’re in good hands is the overarching goal at Hinterland Trading Company.

The Ryan family has always been involved with plants, according to Bailey Ryan, daughter of Kelle and Elizabeth Ryan.

“My mom’s mom was a florist, both her sisters were florists, we always had flowers in the house, my parents were always gardening…so green was always in the family and then to have a business off of it made total sense.”

Paving the way for the ease of access, Hinterland Trading Company was the first company to sell live plants on Amazon. The huge success of the business only motivated them to do more.

Bailey was the one who suggested the family start a physical store for their plants, and her and her mom shared a vision of hosting workshops. They knew there would be a market for it in Virginia Beach.

“This is a town where everyone wants to go out and do something. They want to go for experience-based memories.”

Bailey’s original desire was to go to school for Radiology, but found it increased her desire to stay in the plant business. She really enjoyed learning about the subject, but realized where she should be.

“I’m such a creative person, I knew I needed to find something to get that out.”

Working with her family has been challenging at times, but mostly she sees the good from supporting each other.

“When the business is doing better, my family’s happier. When it’s going bad, that’s when you just have to grin and bear it and you get through it with people you care about.”

Since the filming of this episode, Hinterland Trading Company has returned to its roots as an online wholesale retailer. Bailey has been given responsibility over a brand new store at the Oceanfront called PlantBar which will be workshop-centric. The PlantPop team is excited to see what Bailey does with this opportunity.

For more information about Hinterland Trading Company, visit their website here. To follow Bailey’s journey at PlantBar, check out the Facebook page.